It is clearly open season for
Anglican Bishops – at least two have fallen from their perches in recent months
and others are under fire. Being a Bishop has often been a perilous occupation,
but the compensations can be very substantial. I confess I have daydreamed
about becoming a Bishop myself – the lawn sleeves, the discreet crucifix
pendant, the processional gait, the stately mitre, the rather nasal chanting of
the prayers and responses, as I indulge in clerical chitchat at the Athenaeum
about the merits of The 39 Articles. Tired, I retire to my palace for a
well-earned saddle of lamb and a generous glass of claret…. Then, I suddenly snap
out of my dream realising I hardly qualify for this role, being a lifelong humanist,
estranged from revealed religion by my scepticism, (I simply do not believe a
word of it!) and by no stretch of the imagination a liver of a righteous and
holy life.
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
Welby presided over the funeral
of Elizabeth II and the coronation of Charles III with due dignity and brought
a managerial flavour to his office. But in defending the Church he strayed into
Establishment attitudes by hushing up the extensive paedophile activities of one
John Smyth, creating scandal when the facts emerged. Welby’s position became untenable,
and he went.
John Perumbalath, Bishop of Liverpool
The case of John Perumbalath was
more straight-forward. A sprightly native of Kerala, India, the Bishop could
not contain his exuberance, and several ladies complained of his groping ways.
He was denounced by Bev Mason, suffragan Bishop of Warrington, to add to the
back-stabbing picture. He quickly resigned.
Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of
York
Cottrell is the most senior Anglican
bishop and must be a candidate for the vacant see of Canterbury. However there
have been noisy calls for his resignation (sharply refused by Cottrell) in view
of his past support for Perumbalath and his alleged sheltering of a now-expelled
priest David Tudor. He may confound his critics but currently he is under fire.
York has often been controversial.
When an earlier Archbishop, John Sentamu, confirmed David Jenkins as Bishop of Durham,
Jenkins had already expressed heretical views on the Resurrection and the
Virgin Birth. A day or two later, York Minster was struck by lightning, hailed
by the Evangelicals as a clear sign of God’s wrath – a perfect compound of superstition
and ill-will. Although Sentanu was well respected, in retirement he has been
entirely banned from preaching thanks to some historic mishandling of a sexual
misbehaviour case.
John Sentanu, previous Archbishop
of York
Stepping back from these recent
problems in the Anglican Church, I see its decline as part of the long-delayed triumph
of Enlightenment values in England. In 1650 Irish Bishop Ussher proclaimed his notorious
chronology stating that creation (i.e. the birth of Adam) occurred on October
22 4004 BC and was taken seriously in devout circles for 200 years. In the 18th
century the Church acquired wealth and power and ludicrously the Church retains
to this day its 26 reserved seats in the House of Lords - surely an easy enough
target for Butterfingers Starmer! “Soapy Sam” Wilberforce, Bishop of Winchester
was an eloquent controversialist and opposed Darwinism and TH Huxley in a
debate of 1860, a typical reactionary.
But the tide was turning. Ernest Renan
scandalised France with his Life of Jesus in 1865 and Albert
Schweitzer’s Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906) brilliantly began to face
the real issues. These books demythologised Christ, ridiculed past historic
accretions and pulled the rug from under many theological positions. After the
controversy surrounding the collection of essays The Myth of God Incarnate
by John Hick and 6 others in 1977, and the earlier Honest To God
undermining of deism as set out by John Robinson, Bishop od Woolwich in 1963,
it became obvious that leading Anglicans “no longer believed a word of it” and
it was becoming time to shut up shop.
So, I say, “Thank you” and
“Goodbye” to the Anglican Church. Thank you for the legacy of beautiful
buildings you have cared for throughout England – many will be demolished while
others will long be protected and cherished. And it is “Goodbye” to dogma, to
absurdity and to intolerance. May these enemies of humanity never re-appear!
SMD
5.02.24
Text copyright © Sidney Donald
2025
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